Part 1
Children with autism have 10,000 times as many gram negative bacterias as typical children.
Part 2
Explanation for this increase in bacteria
Part 3
Do antibiotics decrease the harmful bacteria?

Children with autism have 10,000 times as many gram negative bacterias as typical children.

Several studies have found out that compared to typical children, autistic children have more pathogenic intestinal flora. Several types of bacteria have been found to be abnormally abnormally elevated in the guts of ASD kids. Sophie Rosseneu and collaborators examined the GI bacteria in 69 children with regressive autism and constipation. They found the following result:
95% of children with autism had 10,000x normal level of E. coli (Aerobic Gram Negative Bacteria) and
40% also had overgrowth of similar bacteria (Aerobic Gram Negative Bacteria).

Aerobic Gram Negative Bacteria have a very potent endotoxin (LPS) that can cause damage to the gut, brain, thyroid, liver and other parts of the body.

Explanation for this increase in bacteria

It is astonishing that children with autism would have 10,000 times as many gram negative bacterias as typical children. We know from biology that the food supply is a very important determinant for the number of organisms that may survive. We also know that gram negative bacteria (the bacteria that contain LPS )are carbohydrate eaters.
The majority of ASD children have carbohydrate malabsorption [2]; thus
they have problems digesting starch and other complex carbohydrates because their guts are extremely damaged. Thus the gram negative bacteria will flourish, feasting on a multitude of available unabsorbed carbs and consequently emit the LPS which poisons the gut and brain.

The complex carbohydrates are much more difficult to digest
than simple carbohydrates because they must be split into simple sugars
before entering the blood stream. This is a problem for a compromised
digestive system. Carbohydrates not absorbed into the blood stream
become available food for harmful gut bacteria. Only monosaccharide
carbohydrates do not become food for the bacteria. The monosaccharide are the type easy to digest because once absorbed, they
vanish into the bloodstream before the bacteria can access them.

The following research articles demonstrate how the difficult to digest carbs increase gut bacteria when the body cannot absorb them and they remain as food for gut pathogens.

Two out of the following three research articles use The Hydrogen
Breath test to measure
amounts of anaerobic bacteria. ("anaerobic" is a technical word which
means without air )

ABOUT THE HYDROGEN BREATH TEST
The hydrogen breath test utilizes the hydrogen measurement in the breath
to diagnose several conditions that cause gastrointestinal symptoms.

Anaerobic bacteria are the only bacteria in the colon capable of
producing hydrogen in humans. The gas develops as the result of
exposure to unabsorbed food, particularly sugars and other
carbohydrates like starch. Limited hydrogen is produced from the small
amounts of unabsorbed food
that normally reach the colon. Even larger amounts of hydrogen are
present when there is a problem with food digestion and absorption in
the small intestine. An environment is created that allows more
unabsorbed food to reach the colon. Large amounts of hydrogen can also
occur when
colonic bacteria move back into the small intestine. ( "bacterial
overgrowth" of the small bowel.) Once exposed to unabsorbed food, the
bacteria are unable to completely traverse the
small intestine to become fully digested and absorbed. Instead, some
of the hydrogen produced is absorbed into the blood as it flows
through the wall of the small intestine and colon and
travels to the lungs. This hydrogen is released along with exhaled
breath and can be measured.

An important scientific experiment shows that the sugars that are
prohibited from the SCD diet feed the anaerobic bacteria in the gut.

When patients with GI problems consumed complex sugars, the hydrogen
test showed increases bacterial counts. (There is one exception:
fructose). Fructose is a
simple sugar; yet that sugar which is not complex also produces an
increase in bacterial levels. Today's fructose is made from corn starch
and impurities remain and
fructose that is used for experiments is now made from corn, so it acts
like a complex sugar.

Websites about how fructose is manufactured from corn:
http://ific.org/nutrition/sugars/index.cfm?renderforprint=1

The following research paper shows that the sugars that have a disaccharide molecular structure (they must be split into simple sugars
before entering the blood stream. )lead to an increase in bacterial count. These sugars
are not
well absorbed and contribute to digestive problems:
View this article in PubMed
1: Isr Med Assoc J. 2000 Aug;2(8):583-7.

Carbohydrate malabsorption and the effect of dietary restriction on
symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and functional bowel complaints.

BACKGROUND: Carbohydrate malabsorption of lactose, fructose and sorbitol
has already been described in normal volunteers and in patients with
functional bowel complaints including irritable bowel syndrome.
Elimination of the offending sugar(s) should result in clinical
improvement. OBJECTIVE: To examine the importance of carbohydrate
malabsorption in outpatients previously diagnosed as having functional
bowel disorders, and to estimate the degree of clinical improvement
following dietary restriction of the malabsorbed sugar(s). METHODS: A
cohort of 239 patients defined as functional bowel complaints was
divided into a group of 94 patients who met the Rome criteria for
irritable bowel syndrome and a second group of 145 patients who did not
fulfill these criteria and were defined as functional complaints.
Lactose (18 g), fructose (25 g) and a mixture of fructose (25 g) plus
sorbitol (5 g) solutions were administered at weekly intervals.
End-expiratory hydrogen and methane breath samples were collected at 30
minute intervals for 4 hours. Incomplete absorption was defined as an
increment in breath hydrogen of at least 20 ppm, or its equivalent in
methane of at least 5 ppm. All patients received a diet without the
offending sugar(s) for one month. RESULTS: Only 7% of patients with IBS
and 8% of patients with FC absorbed all three sugars normally. The
frequency of isolated lactose malabsorption was 16% and 12%
respectively. The association of lactose and fructose-sorbitol
malabsorption occurred in 61% of both patient groups. The frequency of
sugar malabsorption among patients in both groups was 78% for lactose
malabsorption (IBS 82%, FC 75%), 44% for fructose malabsorption and 73%
for fructose-sorbitol malabsorption (IBS 70%, FC 75%). A marked
improvement occurred in 56% of IBS and 60% of FC patients following
dietary restriction. The number of symptoms decreased significantly in
both groups (P < 0.01) and correlated with the improvement index (IBS P
< 0.05, FC P < 0.025). CONCLUSIONS: Combined sugar malabsorption
patterns are common in functional bowel disorders and may contribute to
symptomatology in most patients. Dietary restriction of the offending
sugar(s) should be implemented before the institution of drug therapy.

PMID: 10979349 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Scientific Article #2

Research paper #2 proves that bacterial fermentation is caused by
unabsorbed starches. Half of the volunteers were fed starches together
with acarbose, an inhibitor that would make them unable to absorb the
starches. The volunteers who took acarbose were unable to digest their
starches and showed signs of having increased bacterial counts in the
colon. The starch inhibitor artificially rendered carbohydrate malabsorption to these volunteers

To study the impact of starch on colonic function and metabolism, 12
healthy volunteers consumed a controlled diet rich in starch for two
4-wk periods. In one of the study periods they received the glucosidase
inhibitor acarbose (BAY g 5421) and placebo in the other. Stool wet
weight increased by 68%, stool dry weight by 57%, fecal water content by
73%, and the mean transit time by 30% on acarbose. Breath hydrogen was
significantly higher on acarbose, indicating stimulated carbohydrate
fermentation in the colon. Fecal bacterial mass (+78%), total stool
nitrogen (+53%), bacterial nitrogen (+200%), and stool fat (+56%) were
higher in the acarbose than in the control period. The stimulation of
fermentation in the human large intestine may be important in colonic
and possibly other diseases.

Sophie Rosseneu and collaborators also made a treatment study to try to eliminate the AGNB (Aerobic Gram Negative Bacteria). 11 children were treated with special antibiotics for 3 months. The antibiotics eliminates the Aerobic Gram Negative Bacteria. The constipation was cured or greatly improved and behavior improved greatly (3.7 -> 7.2/10).

But, when antibiotics stopped, AGNB returned, constipation returned, and behavior problems returned. A similar temporary benefit was seen when Vancomycin or oral Immunoglobulins were used.

The failure with medications has forced parents to use diet to starve out the pathogenic bacteria.